Process of Manufacturing Low-Profile Connector

ABSTRACT

A process of manufacturing low-profile connector includes the steps of (a) forming connector main body, (b) laser activation, (c) plating, and (d) post-treatment. The connector main body for low-profile connector so manufactured includes integrally formed pin terminals to effectively reduce the costs for researching and developing production engineering and making molds, to simplify processing procedures and save a lot of time and labors that are otherwise needed to process metal pins and separated half shells, and to effectively reduce the stock of components and save the warehousing management cost. Moreover, the present invention provides simplified and automated manufacturing process to omit manual assembling and accordingly, save labor cost for subsequent assembling and enable mass production.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a process of manufacturing low-profileconnector, and more particularly to a process of manufacturing connectormain bodies for low-profile connectors for data transmission amongelectronic products.

2. Description of the Prior Arts

It is a common technique in the electronic industry to use a connectorto bridge or connect two separate electronic devices at their connectingends for signal and data transmission. There are tremendous types andmodels of connectors. However, most general connectors, when viewingfrom their structure, include a shell and a plurality of parallellyarranged metal pins enclosed in the shell. By fixedly welding the metalpins of the connector to an end of a cable, signal and data can betransmitted between two electronic devices via the connector.Conventionally, the shell of the connector is assembled from an upperand a lower half shell. Separate molds must be made for the upper andthe lower half shell Therefore, according to the existing connectormanufacturing technique, the metal pins are first assembled to aconnector main body, and the separate upper and lower shells are thenmanually assembled to each other to enclose the metal pin therein.

Following the trend of development in the electronic industrial field,all kinds of electronic devices are designed to have light weight, lowprofile and compact volume. As a result, the connectors for thesecompact electronic devices are also largely reduced in size to formlow-profile connectors. Nevertheless, the low-profile connectors arestill manufactured and processed using the conventional ways, whichresults in the following disadvantages:

(1) The size-reduced metal pins and connector shells are separatelyresearched and developed, and separate molds must be made for them.Therefore, relatively high cost is required for researching anddeveloping production engineering and making molds.

(2) Since the metal pins and the upper and lower half shells aremanufactured and processed separately, complicated processing proceduresare involved to consume relatively high amount of time and labor.

(3) While the existing low-profile connectors have a reduced overallvolume, the number of the components thereof does not decrease. That is,the structure of the existing low-profile connectors is not simplified.A large stock of different components for the connectors is required tothereby increase the cost for warehousing management.

(4) With the conventional connector manufacturing process, the existinglow-profile connectors in the final processing procedures require manualassembling to complete the finished products thereof. The large numberof small components tends to cause lowered good yield in the manualassembling while a lot of time and labor is needed to result inincreased manufacturing cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide animproved process of manufacturing low-profile connector, in order toeliminate the problems with the conventional ways for manufacturing alow-profile connector.

To achieve the above and other objects, the process of manufacturinglow-profile according to a preferred embodiment of the present inventionincludes the following steps:

(a) Forming connector main body: Two connector main bodies forlow-profile connector and a holding support are integrally formed usinga plastic material through injection molding; the two connector mainbodies are symmetrically formed on two opposite sides of the holdingsupport, and each have a forward projected plug end, at where theconnector main bodies are connected to the edges of the two oppositesides of the holding support; the joints of the connector main bodiesand the holding support have a relatively smaller thickness tofacilitate subsequent separation of finished connector main bodies fromthe holding support; on a front side of the plug end of each of theconnector main bodies, there are formed a plurality of pins, which areparallelly arranged side by side; and the connector main bodies eachhave a rear side formed into a flat face;

(b) Laser activation: The integrally formed connector main bodies andholding support obtained in the step (a) of forming connector main bodyare positioned in a laser apparatus, so that the front and rear sides ofthe connector main bodies are laser activated to modify the surface ofthe plastic material of the connector main bodies; on the front side ofthe connector main bodies, only the areas corresponding to the pins atthe plug end are laser activated; and, on the rear side, the whole flatface is laser activated;

(c) plating: The integrally formed and laser activated connector mainbodies and holding support are positioned in a plating apparatus, thelaser activated areas on the front and rear sides of the connector mainbodies are plated to form a layer of metal thereon; surfaces of the pinscorresponding to the front side of the connector main bodies that havebeen plated form an electrically conducting layer each to serve as pinterminals; and, a proximal end of each of the pin terminals is used as awelding point for welding to a connecting end of a conductor; and theplated rear side of the connector main bodies is fully coated by a metallayer and accordingly forms a metal shielding face, which provides thelow-profile connector with the function of shielding interferingsignals; and

(d) post-treatment: The connector main bodies are cut off from theholding support, and cut edges of the connector main bodies that havecoarse surfaces are trimmed.

The connector main body for low-profile connector manufactured accordingto the process of the present invention includes integrally formed pinterminals to effectively reduce the costs for researching and developingproduction engineering and making molds, to simplify processingprocedures and save a lot of time and labors that are otherwise neededto process metal pins and separated half shells, and to effectivelyreduce the stock of components and save the warehousing management cost.Moreover, the present invention provides simplified and automatedmanufacturing process to omit manual assembling and accordingly, savelabor cost for subsequent assembling procedure and enable massproduction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The structure and the technical means adopted by the present inventionto achieve the above and other objects can be best understood byreferring to the following detailed description of the preferredembodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the steps included in the process ofmanufacturing low-profile connector according to a preferred embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view of a half-finished product of a connector mainbody for low-profile connector obtained in a first step of formingconnector main body according to the manufacturing process of thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 is a side view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a rear view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a front view of a half-finished product of the connector mainbody for low-profile connector after a second step of laser activationaccording to the manufacturing process of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is rear view of FIG. 6;

FIG. 7 is a front view of a half-finished product of the connector mainbody for low-profile connector after a third step of plating accordingto the manufacturing process of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a rear view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a front view of a finished product of the connector main bodyfor low-profile connector after a fourth step of post-treatmentaccording to the manufacturing process of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a rear view of FIG. 9; and

FIG. 11 is a side view of FIG. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will now be described with a preferred embodimentthereof with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is understoodthe accompanying drawings are illustrated only for assisting indescribing the present invention and is not necessarily in compliancewith the exact or precise size proportion and part arrangement of a realproduct manufactured through implementing the present invention.Therefore, the size proportion and part arrangement shown in theaccompanying drawings are not intended to limit the present invention,which is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.

Please refer to FIG. 1. According to a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, the process of manufacturing a low-profile connectorincludes the following steps: (1) forming connector main body; (2) laseractivation; (3) plating; and (4) post-treatment.

Please also refer to FIGS. 2 to 4. In the first step of formingconnector main body, at least one connector main body 10 for alow-profile connector and a holding support 20 are integrally formedusing a plastic material through injection molding or other prior artplastic molding techniques. In the illustrated preferred embodiment,there are two connector main bodies 10 symmetrically integrally formedon two opposite sides of the holding support 20. The two connector mainbodies 10 each have a forward projected plug end 11, at where theconnector main bodies are connected to the edges of the two oppositesides of the holding support 20. It is noted the joints of the connectormain bodies 10 and the holding support 20 have a relatively smallerthickness to facilitate subsequent separation of finished connector mainbodies from the holding support 20. On a front side of the plug end 11of each of the connector main bodies 10, there are formed a plurality ofpins 111, which are parallelly arranged side by side. And, the connectormain bodies 10 each have a rear side formed into a flat face.

Please further refer to FIGS. 5 and 6 at the same time. In the secondstep of laser activation, the integrally formed connector main bodies 10and holding support 20 obtained in the first step of forming connectormain body are positioned in a laser apparatus. The holding support 20functions to hold the integrally formed connector main bodies 10 inplace. Then, the front and rear sides of the connector main bodies 10are subjected to laser activation, so that the surface of the plasticmaterial of the connector main bodies 10 is modified. On the front sideof the connector main bodies 10, only the areas corresponding to thepins 111 at the plug end 11 are laser activated; and, on the rear side,the whole flat face is laser activated. Since the modification of thesurfaces of plastic objects by laser activation is actually a commonprocess technique in the plastic industrial field, it is not discussedin more details herein. Only the effect that is to be achieved in thepresent invention through laser activation is described.

In the third step of plating, the integrally formed and laser activatedconnector main bodies 10 and holding support 20 are positioned in aplating apparatus. Since various types of plating techniques are knownby a person of ordinary skill in the art, the plating apparatus appliedin the present invention is not particularly limited. In thespecification, only the structure and areas to be plated and the purposeand effect of plating are described. Please refer to FIGS. 7 and 8 atthe same time. In the plating step, the laser activated areas on thefront and rear sides of the connector main bodies 10 are plated to forma layer of metal thereon. Surfaces of the pins 111 corresponding to thefront side of the connector main bodies 10 that have been plated form anelectrically conducting layer each to serve as pin terminals 112. And, aproximal end of each of the pin terminals 112 is used as a welding point113 for welding to a connecting end of a conductor. The plated rear sideof each of the connector main bodies 10 is fully coated by a metal layerand accordingly forms a metal shielding face 114, which provides thelow-profile connector with the function of shielding interferingsignals.

Please refer to FIGS. 9, 10 and 11. In the fourth step ofpost-treatment, the connector main bodies 10 are cut off from theholding support 20, and the cut edges of the connector main bodies thathave coarse surfaces are trimmed to complete two finished products ofconnector main bodies 10 for low-profile connectors.

The connector main body 10 for low-profile connector manufacturedaccording to the process of the present invention has the followingadvantages:

1. Since the pin terminals 112 are integrally formed with the connectormain body 10, it is no need to make separate molds for the pin terminalsand the connector shell, and the costs for researching and developingproduction engineering as well as making molds can be effectivelyreduced.

2. Unlike the conventional connector that involves complicatedmanufacturing procedures and requires a lot of time and labors toprocess and assemble the metal pins and the two half shells, the presentinvention does not require time and labor for assembling the metal pinsto the connector main body.

3. The number of components is effectively reduced to exactly decreasethe stock of components and the cost for warehousing management.

4. Since the manufacturing process is simplified and automated, manualassembling procedures can be omitted to save the labor cost forsubsequent assembling, and bad yield due to errors in manual assemblingcan be avoided.

The present invention has been described with some preferred embodimentsthereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in thedescribed embodiments can be carried out without departing from thescope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limitedonly by the appended claims.

1. A process of manufacturing low-profile connector, comprising thefollowing steps: (a) forming connector main body: integrally forming atleast one connector main body for low-profile connector and a holdingsupport using a plastic material through any known plastic moldingtechnique, such that the integrally formed connector main body each hasa forward projected plug end, at a front side thereof a plurality ofpins are formed and parallelly arranged side by side; (b) laseractivation: positioning the at least one connector main body and theholding support being integrally formed in the step (a) in a laserapparatus, exposing front and rear sides of the connector main body tolaser for laser activation to thereby modify surfaces of the plasticmaterial; wherein, on the front side of the connector main body, onlyareas corresponding to the pins at the plug end are laser activated; (c)plating: plating the laser activated connector main body and the holdingsupport integrally formed with the connector main body, so that a layerof metal is coated on the laser activated areas; wherein surfaces of thepins corresponding to the front side of the connector main body thathave been plated form an electrically conducting layer each to serve aspin terminals, and a proximal end of each of the pin terminals is usedas a welding point for welding to a connecting end of a conductor; and(d) post-treatment: separating the at least one laser activated andplated connector main body from the holding support.
 2. The process ofmanufacturing low-profile connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein, inthe step (b), a whole face of the rear side of the connector main bodyis laser activated; and in the step (c), the plated rear side of theconnector main body is fully coated by a metal layer and accordinglyforms a metal shielding face, which provides the low-profile connectorwith the function of shielding interfering signals.
 3. The process ofmanufacturing low-profile connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein, inthe step (a), the implemented plastic molding technique is plasticinjection molding.
 4. The process of manufacturing low-profile connectoras claimed in claim 2, wherein, in the step (a), the implemented plasticmolding technique is plastic injection molding.
 5. The process ofmanufacturing low-profile connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein, inthe step (a), two connector main bodies are integrally formed on twoopposite sides of the holding support, and the two connector main bodiesare connected at respective forward projected plug end to the twoopposite sides of the holding support.
 6. The process of manufacturinglow-profile connector as claimed in claim 2, wherein, in the step (a),two connector main bodies are integrally formed on two opposite sides ofthe holding support, and the two connector main bodies are connected atrespective forward projected plug end to the two opposite sides of theholding support.
 7. The process of manufacturing low-profile connectoras claimed in claim 3, wherein, in the step (a), two connector mainbodies are integrally formed on two opposite sides of the holdingsupport, and the two connector main bodies are connected at respectiveforward projected plug end to the two opposite sides of the holdingsupport.
 8. The process of manufacturing low-profile connector asclaimed in claim 4, wherein, in the step (a), two connector main bodiesare integrally formed on two opposite sides of the holding support, andthe two connector main bodies are connected at respective forwardprojected plug end to the two opposite sides of the holding support. 9.The process of manufacturing low-profile connector as claimed in claim7, wherein, in the step (a), joints of the connector main bodies and theholding support have a relatively smaller thickness to facilitatesubsequent separation of the connector main bodies from the holdingsupport in the step (d).
 10. The process of manufacturing low-profileconnector as claimed in claim 8, wherein, in the step (a), joints of theconnector main bodies and the holding support have a relatively smallerthickness to facilitate subsequent separation of the connector mainbodies from the holding support in the step (d).
 11. The process ofmanufacturing low-profile connector as claimed in claim 9, wherein, inthe step (a), the rear side of each of the two connector main bodies hasa flat face.
 12. The process of manufacturing low-profile connector asclaimed in claim 10, wherein, in the step (a), the rear side of each ofthe two connector main bodies has a flat face.
 13. The process ofmanufacturing low-profile connector as claimed in claim 11, wherein, inthe step (d), a cut edge of each of the connector main bodies formedwhen separating the connector main body from the holding support istrimmed to remove any coarseness, so as to complete a finished productof a connector main body for a low-profile connector.
 14. The process ofmanufacturing low-profile connector as claimed in claim 12, wherein, inthe step (d), a cut edge of each of the connector main bodies formedwhen separating the connector main body from the holding support istrimmed to remove any coarseness, so as to complete a finished productof a connector main body for a low-profile connector.